Real Love
by HopelessRomanceWriter
Summary: Crazy fans and paparazzi making up stories about Austin having bad luck with the ladies. So Team Austin devise a plan to fend them off by having Ally pretend to be his fake girlfriend. Does Ally have what it takes to be Austin's 'girlfriend? And will a fake romance turn into a real one? Ahhh so much Auslly Fluff! It's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeee!
1. A Crazy Fan

**I realize that I'm kinda re-using an idea I used for one of my Kickin' It fanfics but I thought if you're not as much of a fan of Kickin' It as you are of Austin and Ally then I thought I'd share this idea with you guys as well! And for those of you that read both, the stories are still very different! Hope you like it!**

**Oh and if you're looking for Auslly fluff, there's not that much in the beginning but sit tight! There will be plenty of that later on ;)**

Ally just finished wiping the store countertop when she looked up and saw a panicked looking Austin bolting straight at her.

"Ally, I'm not here! Okay?" he whispered loudly.

"Austin! Not over-" Ally tried to stop him but it was too late, the long-legged, blonde made a leap over the countertop leaving scuff marks when his feet scraped over.

Ally glared at him, "Austin, WHAT is going on?" she demanded.

Austin was curled up on the ground behind the counter. He looked up at Ally and pressed his finger against his lips to silence her.

Then Ally noticed a girl with blonde hair braided in two braids, strode into the store with a slightly wild look is her eyes. She smiled broadly at Ally.

"Hey Ally!" she said to her.

"Um…Hi girl I've never met before…" replied Ally very confused.

"Have you seen Austin?" she asked eagerly.

Ally took a quick glance at Austin and he frantically shook his head. Ally hesitated but finally answered slowly, "…noooo…"

"Well do you know where he is? I mean you are his songwriter! and one of his best friends! Do you realize how lucky you are to be one of his best friend! I bet he tells you everything! Gosh what I would give just for Austin to say hi to me! That blonde hair! That smile! That perfect voice!" the girl rambled on and on about Austin to Ally.

Ally got very uncomfortable. Suddenly a voice came to her rescue.

"OH EM GEEEEEE! Austin Moon can I have your autograph?" the voice sounded suspiciously like Trish's.

The girl's head quickly swivelled around and with a blink of an eye, she was gone.

Ally let out a deep sigh as Austin let out a deep breath as well.

"That was too close," he said as he got up from his hiding spot.

"Uh, yeah," agreed Ally, "But who exactly was that, Austin?"

At that moment Trish strode into the store proudly, "No need to thank me, but I totally sent Mimi on a wild goose chase for you, Austin. Who's the best manager in the world?" She raised her hand for a high five which Austin automatically gave her.

"You are!" he said proudly.

"Hey I helped to!" Ally piped up.

"Yeahhh…." said Austin, "You're a terrible lier. Thanks for trying though!" He gave her a sincere grin but Ally just pouted.

"So who's this Mimi girl?" asked Ally.

"Actually I'm surprised you haven't come across her yet. She's basically Austin's biggest fan and has cornered all of us, Austin, Dez and me," explained Trish, "you would have thought that she would have easily found you at Sonic Boom. I would think she would know you work here because she basically knows everything about Austin and everyone who is associated with him."

"Yeah, it's really scary," said Austin, "look at this video she posted online!" Austin pulled out his phone and did a search of the video. Within seconds he found it and started playing it.

In a nutshell, it was Mimi sitting in front of a webcam telling her audience everything there was to know about Austin Moon and his 'team' as she shrieked and giggled and expressed her infinite love for him.

Thirty seconds into the video, Ally went, "Ugh stop it! stop it now!" There was still another 16 minutes and 28 seconds left.

"Creepy, right?" asked Austin.

Ally nodded. "How long as she been….following you?" asked Ally.

"I met her a couple of weeks ago. I was leaving the house for school and she was sitting on the curb at the end of my driveway. She looked innocent enough so I said, 'Hi, are you waiting for someone?" she looked up at me with this really big smile and big eyes. "Just you," she answered. She stuck her hand out in front of me and said, 'HI, I'm Mimi Hobbins! And I have been dying to meet you for a realllllyy long time! I was so excited when I found your address. I just HAD to meet you as soon as possible! I love your music! I love your voice! I love YOU!' It was really overwhelming and uncomfortable. I just said, 'Uh I gotta get to school. BYE!" and ran to school as fast as I could. And I NEVER rush to school. even when I'm late! But that girl freaked me out so much I had to find some sort of safe haven!"

Ally stared wide-eyed at Austin's story.

"Hey you think that was bad! Listen to what happened when I met her," Trish started telling her story, "I was working at Mr. Cuckoo's Clock Shop at the time. Thank goodness I left that job, there was ticking in my ears for days and I was only there for an hour before I took my 5 hour break. Anyways that's besides the point. During the hour that I was there I was sitting there, bored behind the counter when this girls with blonde, braided hair comes skipping into the store. "Can I help you?" I asked grudgingly. 'YES,' she answered excited. Way too excited for someone who was buying a clock if you ask me, so of course she wasn't coming into the store to ask about clocks. Instead she asked, 'Do you know where, Austin Moon, is? I mean, you are his manager, right? you should know these things right?' I just stared at her totally weirded out. She went on, "I wanted to give him THIS!' she pulled a scrapbook out of her bag and started to flip through it to show me. It was an album full of collages of her and Austin's face. There was one of them at prom, them on their wedding day, them with their first child, them with there SIX children. I know you can find some pictures of Austin on the internet but some of these pictures I never recognized so I asked, 'how did you get all these pictures of Austin?" She pulled out her phone and gave me a mischievous grin, 'the zoom on my camera phone is magnificent," she replied. I was truly terrified of this girl by that point, so to get rid of her I said, 'How 'bout I give this to Austin for you?' 'OK' she replied excitedly, 'let him know it was from Mimi Hobbins!' Trying really hard to put on a smile, I said, "Okay, I will." Then she skipped out of the store and I chucked the freaky book in the trash!"

"You didn't tell me about the six kids!" said Austin.

"Trust me, there are more worse things in that book that I could tell you about that you would preferably not hear," said Trish.

"Were either of you guys there when Dez met her?" asked Ally.

"Actually, yeah. It wasn't quite as weird as Trish's story but it was still really weird," Austin began to tell Dez's story, "Dez was getting some shots of me playing music at the beach when suddenly she comes out of nowhere and starts telling Dez how to film. She made suggestions like, 'Shouldn't he have his shirt off? I mean he IS at the beach? Oh and be sure to get a good shot of his beautiful eyes! Make him splash in the water, Dez!' You know how Dez doesn't like to be told how to film so he said to her angrily, 'EXCUSE ME! but you are NOT Austin Moon's Music Video Director! I AM! So I will shoot this video how I want to!' An angry Dez is pretty scary but Mimi didn't even seem phased by him. Instead she grinned at him, 'As Austin Moon's biggest fan I feel it is my duty to make suggestions for his music videos! Mimi Hobbins at your service! It's soooo great to finally meet Austin's best friend and music video director!' She shook his hand roughly. 'Here's a gingerbread man for you!' And she just pranced away after that. Dez turned to me and said, ' Heh heh, it kinda looks like you! This'll be great for the collection. I like her.' but once I told him about all the creepy things she's been up to he sided with me."

"Phewf," said Ally, "well that's good, can you imagine Dez being friends with her, and her hanging out with us?"

The three of them shuddered.

"I can't go anywhere without being paranoid that she's creeping close by!" said Austin.

"Austin, you have to do something about this girl!" said Ally.

"But hey, that's the price of fame," said Trish, "If it's not Mimi, I'm sure there are more or will be more later on."


	2. How to fool the paparazzi

Indeed, Austin's fame had grown a lot since his first video, "Double Take". People started to see him as more than just an internet sensation and instead, one of America's finest piece of young talent. Pretty soon he would be able to start touring.

One day, when Austin was alone in the practice room, mindlessly browsing the internet, he stumbled upon some articles about himself. There were headlines like,

"Austin flirts with girls on Miami Beach"

"Does Moon really know how to make girls' "heartbeat beat?' "

"Austin Moon shut down by pop star, Belena Tomez"

" 'Billion Hits' pop star juggling more than one girlfriend."

He couldn't believe it! The paparazzi were some how able to find sources and photographs that made it look like he was some pathetic teenage boy with lady troubles. It was humiliating. And none of it was true! He buried his face into his hands in frustration with these lies.

Just then, Ally entered the room, "Hey Austin, I'll be ready in a sec and then we can go meet Trish and Dez -" she paused and noticed her friend's face in his hands, "Austin are you ok?"

Still covering his face with one of his hands he turned his laptop screen to show Ally the articles. She quickly scanned through them.

She chuckled, "Austin you couldn't possibly take this news seriously, could you? I mean it's just silly gossip stuff, not real news."

Austin looked up, "I don't believe all that celebrity gossip but some people do! I don't want my fans thinking I'm some sorry excuse for a teenage rock star that can't get a girl!"

"I really don't think your fans care whether or not you can 'get with a girl'. If they're real fans then they'll like you for you and your music," Ally tried to reason with him.

"Yeah but this stuff still makes me look like an idiot!" he exclaimed.

At this point Dez and Trish joined the songwriter and performer in the practice room. "Hey Austin, I didn't know you had a thing for Belena Tomez," Dez said as he entered.

Trish rolled her eye, "I told, you Dez, you can't believe everything you read on the internet!"

"Yeah but it's entertaining, if you believe that stuff is true," he smiled to himself.

Trish just shook her head.

"Trish, you're my manager, what can I do to stop this bad publicity?" Austin asked desperately.

"Whatever happened to that saying, 'there's no such thing as bad press." ?" questioned Dez.

"Dez kinda has a point, Austin," said Ally, "I mean, at least people are recognizing you and once they see you in the media, more people may take an interest in your music."

Austin's face dropped into a solitude expression, " I don't care. I'd rather work hard for good publicity than just live off of bad publicity."

"I've got it!" announced Trish when the light bulb went off in her head, "We'll just prove the paparazzi wrong! We'll prove to them that you can get a girl!"

"What am I supposed to do? just pick some random girl off the streets to be my girlfriend?" asked Austin.

"Hey you've got a pretty big group of fans to pick from, who I'm sure any one of them would gladly date you," joked Ally.

"I am NOT dating a fan!" said Austin. Mimi had automatically came to mind when Ally said that and he had rather chew on a dirty gym sock than date her.

"Well then date Ally," said Trish casually.

"WHAT?" Austin and Ally said together.

"Not for real if you don't want to," said Trish, "but you guys could pretend. you know just when you're out in public the two of you can act all couple-y for the cameras. I think the paparazzi would actually just eat that story up. Singer and songwriter fall in love, finding love in music together," Trish sighed, "it'll be easy!" she assured them.

Austin and Ally just looked at Trish, stunned by the words that just left her mouth, while Dez seem to go off in his own world and started counting the freckles on his arm.

"Trish this plan ISN'T going to work!" said Ally.

"Why not? who would be better to play Austin's fake girlfriend, than you! We're his closest girl friends and who he trusts the most but I can't do it because do you know how weird that would look in the media if it said 'pop star and manager hook up' ?" Trish shuddered, "Weird. So it's gotta be you who does it!"

Ally looked at Trish doubtfully.

"I'm okay with it if Ally is," Austin said, now realizing that Trish had a point after what she said. There was no one that would be more suitable for the job of playing his girlfriend than Ally. They worked well together. Creating music together proved that.

Now Ally looked at Austin with a disbelieving expression too. Trying to get herself out of the awkward situation, she said, "Well I'm a terrible liar," using what Austin had told her just the other day, "so how am I supposed to be able to lie about being Austin's girlfriend?"

Trish put her arm around her best friend, "Don' think of it as lying. Think of it as acting," she said.

"I'm a terrible actor!" said Ally.

"We'll help you!" said Austin.

Ally looked from Trish's face to Austin. They both looked at her with desperation. She sighed, "Fiiineee, I'll do it."

"Yes!" said Trish and Austin. They both pulled her in for a group hug. Dez turned his head up from looking down at his arm and noticed the group hug. He walked over put his arms around the group as well, joining in.


	3. Acting Lessons

One day in the practice room, the four friends were helping Ally fit the role of Austin's girlfriend.

"Did you watch all those romantic comedies I suggested, Ally?" asked Trish.

"Yep!" Ally said proudly, "made notes too!"

"You made notes?" Austin said, trying not to snicker at Ally's tendency to be an over achiever.

"It's Ally, of course she made notes," replied Trish.

"They were really good too," said Ally, "I haven't heard of a lot of them but they were still amazing. How did you come up with the list?"

"I didn't," answered Trish, "Dez did"

Austin and Ally both looked at Dez shocked.

He raised both his hands, "Hey I may not be into rom-coms but if I'm going to be a director some day I have to know the masterpieces of ALL genres," he explained.

Ally and Austin nodded understandingly and appreciated Dez's dedication.

"So what did you take note of?" Trish asked Ally.

"Well," said Ally pulling out her book, "I noticed a lot of looking into each other's eyes, holding hands, cuddling, smiling at each other, laughing together…" Ally went on with her list.

Then Trish cuts in, "and of course kissing," Trish added.

"Yeah…that too," said Ally uncomfortably, " Are we going to have to do that?" she asked nervously.

"We'll see what it has to come to," said Trish.

"Don't worry, Ally, I'm a great kisser," Austin said leaning back in his chair with a smug look on his face.

Ally rolled her eyes, "right because that's what I was concerned about," she said.

"It's not going to mean anything," said Trish, "remember Ally, you're an actress now."

"Right, actress," Ally told herself, "How much am I getting paid?"

"Ally!" said Trish.

"Sorry, just trying to think about being an actress realistically," said Ally, "Because, you know, if I were a real actress, I'm pretty sure I'd be getting paid a lot of - "

"You have to be a good actress if you want to get paid a lot," Trish interrupted, "and if you don't let us help you, you can forget about imagining yourself as a well paid actress. Can we focus here!"

"Right," said Ally.

"Ok," began Trish, "We set up a table and a couple chairs in here. We're going to play out a scenario if you and Austin were in a cafe or restaurant."

Austin and Ally took their seats across from each other at the table. Dez pulled out his camera and started recording without Ally noticing. He didn't want to miss out on some potentially good footage.

Austin started the conversation, "you're looking beautiful as always, Ally," he said in a charming tone as he took her hand into his.

Ally automatically blushed and was at a loss for words.

Austin looked at her puzzled and started waving his hand in front of her face."Ally?" he asked.

Then Ally pressed her lips together trying to hold back her laughter. It was absolutely foreign to her, to hear Austin talk to her so flirtatiously.

Trish smacked her palm to her forehead.

"I'm sorry!" burst Ally, "this is just so weird to me, because it's Austin! He would never flirt with me!"

"Well then imagine it's Dallas" suggested Trish.

This caused Ally to blush an even deeper red.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Trish," said Austin, "she can barely talk to Dallas."

Ally threw Austin a dirty look.

"Well at least this way, she can put herself in a mind set that'll make her want to act romantically with you," said Trish.

"And I've gotten better at talking with Dallas," Ally added.

"Ok let's try this again," said Trish. "Take 2," she whispered to Dez's camera.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your smile," Austin said to Ally.

Ally smiled back at him, "You're smile makes me smile," she replied. "Ohh that would make a good song lyric!" she said after and pulled out her book.

"Ally! Concentrate!" told Trish.

"wait, no, something like this could work," said Austin, "I mean, most people know she's my songwriter, right? And you said the paparazzi would go crazy for a love story between a songwriter and performer so this would be building on that. It'd be like I'm Ally's inspiration for her songwriting." Austin said that last part pleased with himself.

Ally just shook her head at Austin's ego.

"I like the way you think, Moon," said Trish, "you're so right. We have to play up that kind of relationship you guys have. It's what'll make it special and people interested."

"Wait I thought we were just trying to cover up the idea that Austin was having girl troubles? Now we're blowing it up into a huge romance story?" said Ally confused.

"Hey, might as well, I think it's something the fans will love," Trish stated.

"Oh gosh," said Ally coming to a realization, "The paparazzi are going to have cameras…"

"Uh yeah Ally, they kinda need them for their job," Trish said confused by Ally's statement.

"I can't act in front of cameras!" exclaimed Ally, "My stage fright!"

"You're not gonna know that they're there," said Trish, "the idea of the paparazzi is that they hide so they can get pictures of celebrities in their natural state, so they can catch them at EVERYTHING."

"So I'll just know they're always there!" said Ally in a panic tone.

Trish put her hand on Ally's shoulder, "no you won't," she told Ally casually, "because Dez has been standing here this whole time with his camera and you haven't acknowledged it at all."

Ally spun herself around in her chair and faced Dez. He grinned at her mischievously and waved at her behind the camera.

Ally turned back around, started to chew on her hair and sunk in her seat.

"i think it's time for a break," Austin suggested.

Over the course of the week Team Austin had practiced on Ally's acting skills before going out into the public. She had gotten better. The combination of the idea that she was with Dallas but seeing Austin's face helped her. Thinking she was with Dallas made her feel more of those romantic feelings but seeing Austin's face made her able to actually talk to him properly. (compared how she would normally talk to Dallas)

And Dez continued to pull out his camera secretly to get the shots he wanted but also to test when Ally would catch him filming. Gradually, Ally became more relaxed with being in front of cameras she couldn't see.

At the end of the week Austin and Ally were rehearsing a scenario as if they were couple out on an evening stroll. Ally's arm was linked through Austin's arm and held him lovingly. They walked around the practice room then took a seat on the piano bench as if it were a park bench. Austin turned to Ally and pushed some of her hair behind her ears to get a better look at her face. He looked into Ally's eyes and smiled at her.

They locked gazes for a moment. Ally was unsure of what to do at that moment. Usually in a scene like this in the movies meant the girl and the guy were about to kiss. Did Austin want to practice kissing? Ally looked back into Austin's eyes trying to decide what she should do next. "Gosh, he really does have gorgeous eyes," she thought to herself. A feeling of butterflies filled her stomach.

Suddenly she heard a sniffle. Both Austin and Ally turned their heads to Trish.

"You guys are just SO cute," she sobbed, "it's like you're straight out of a movie!" She blew into a tissue.

Austin looked back at Ally and grinned excitedly, "I think we're ready!"


	4. At the Beach

For Austin and Ally's first public appearance as a couple they decided to go to the beach. It was a warm, sunny Saturday so there would plenty of people there. The pair decided to go a bit early in the day so they could find a good spot on the beach. Once they found a spot they placed their towels down and made themselves comfortable. There weren't many people around yet so Ally wasn't too tense about playing her role in public for the first time. Then she remembered she forgot to put on sunblock before leaving the house so she pulled out a bottle of it from her bag.

"Hey, Austin can you put some sunblock on my back, please?" Ally asked.

"Sure thing, babe," replied Austin with a grin.

Ally rolled her eyes, "Don't call me 'babe'," she said.

Austin lowered his head by her ear and whispered, "Why not? you're supposed to be playing my girlfriend right now."

Ally whispered back, "Well even if you were my real boyfriend I wouldn't let you call me 'babe'. I hate being called that, it makes me feel like a guy's possession and I'm just some pretty object…"

Austin shrugged, "Whatever you say, sweet thang," he responded knowing that it would annoy her.

Ally turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled and she couldn't help but return the smile, realizing that he was only kidding that he would call her that.

Ally started to notice that Austin wasn't exactly rubbing the sunblock on her back. She felt the cool sunblock squirt onto her back but Austin didn't spread it with the palms of his hands, instead Ally felt his fingers starting to dab on her back, then he would swirl his fingers around and make, what felt like, lines going in various direction. She heard him let out a low chuckle. "Austin, what are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing…" lied Austin.

"Well, you're supposed to be putting sunblock on my back," Ally said.

"I am," replied Austin.

"It doesn't exactly feel like it," Ally said.

Austin let out another chuckle as he continue to play with the sunblock on Ally's back.

"Austin, are you drawing with the sunblock on my back?" Ally asked.

"Just working my creative skills, Ally," he said innocently while holding back his laughter, "it helps as a musician."

"Well then I think I'll work my creative skills as well," said Ally grabbing the bottle of sunscreen. She turned around and squirted a silly face on his chest and stomach.

Austin froze and looked down at Ally's work. Ally looked at him mischievously and tried to hold back from bursting into laughter. Then he looked up at her and gave her an expression that said "revenge"

Ally's eyes widened and she darted away from Austin. He chased her straight into the water, washing their sunscreen art off. When he caught her in the water he scooped her up bridal-style and tossed her into the water. Ally let out a shriek and sunk under the water. When Austin didn't see her come back up he was suddenly scared, "Ally?" he called for her. Ally emerged from the water behind Austin and jumped on his back from behind. The surprise attack caused him to fall into the water, bringing them both down. They got up and started having a splashing war. After a bit of splashing Austin grabbed Ally and pulled her into his arms. He looked down at her. Again, Ally got that nervous feeling that he was going to kiss her but instead he said with a smile, "Truce?"

Ally nodded her head happily, "Truce."

They got out of the water and started walking along the shoreline. Ally's arm was linked through Austin's just like they practiced. Ally tilted her head against his shoulder and they just walked and talked.

"You're such a child," Ally said.

"I know," said Austin, "but that's what makes me so much fun to hang-out with."

"And you have an ego that seems impossible to damage," she added.

"I prefer to call it my confidence," Austin replied then paused. "You know Ally, you've got a lot to be confident about too, you just don't seem to realize it."

Ally looked up at him curiously.

"Yeah, I mean you're a really talented musician. You're creative, smart and likeable. People can look at you and not feel intimidated. You'd be a great role model. You've also got a cute quirkiness to your personality. And, I know you don't want to be seen as just a 'pretty object', but on top of all your great qualities you're a beautiful girl. I don't know why you would still worry about you're stage fright. You've got nothing to be afraid of and I don't think you'd disappoint anybody."

Ally was in awe. Austin always told her she was awesome but this really took the cake. However, Ally then remembered that he was playing her boyfriend, "You're just saying that," she said blushing.

"No," Austin said looking at her in the eyes, "I'm saying that to you as a person, not my girlfriend or even a friend."

He really was talking to her sincerely; Ally looked down continuing to blush.

Austin snickered, "You blush so easily,"

"because you don't usually talk to me like that!" she replied then clamped one hand over her mouth, afraid that someone heard her and thought something suspicious of their relationship.

Austin pulled her hand down gently, "Relax, the paparazzi typically takes pictures, they don't really listen in on the conversations. The make up their own stories for that."

Ally relaxed and they walked in silence for a bit. The beach had gotten much busier since they arrived in the morning. They could hear kids and parents laughing and screaming, friends chatting and vendors taking orders.

"Hungry?" asked Austin.

"Yeah a bit," said Ally.

They walked over to the nearest food shack and Austin placed an order, "Two burgers, please, one with extra pickles and one large soda with two straws." He turned to Ally and winked at her.

"Comin' right up, Mr. Moon," said the man in the shack, " 'ey, Austin, who's the pretty 'ittle girl, you got d'ere, holding onto yuz arm?"

"Oh, this is Ally Dawson, my girlfriend," Austin answered proudly.

"Girlfriend eh?" said the man, "Aw dat's too bad, my daughter is big fan of yurz. Always gabbing her head off about marrying yez one day. Silly fan stuff yuh know? Well anyways, I think you two make a cute pair and my best to de both of yuz. 'ere are yuz burgers and soda," he said serving them.

"Thank you, sir" said Austin paying him, "keep the change."

The man nodded a thanks.

When they were out of earshot as they made their way back to their spot on the beach, Austin said, "see we've already got someone thinking we make a cute couple."

"Yeah, well he's probably just glad because he doesn't have to worry about his daughter marrying a pop star," replied Ally.

They returned to their original spot on the beach and sat down, ready to dig into their food. Then suddenly they heard a yell, "HEY GUYS LOOK! IT'S AUSTIN MOON EATING A BURGER ON THE BEACH!"

Austin and Ally looked at each other with panicked expressions, then turned their heads to see group of girls running in their direction.

They both dropped their food and Austin grabbed Ally's hand as they began to run across the beach together.

The girls continued to chase after them throughout the beach. After a long chase, Austin finally saw the opportunity to hide. They ran through a crowd of people to lose the girls for a moment then pulled Ally into a small nearby cave. He pressed her against the cave wall to hide them both in the darkness of the cave. Both of them stood very still and didn't even dare to breath in case of making any noise. Soon they heard the girls' voices say:

"Did you see where he went?"

"I think he went that way!"

"Did anybody know who that girl he was with?"

When they were sure they were gone they both let out a deep exhale and relaxed for a moment. Then they realized how close they were pressed together in the small, private space. Austin was still standing with his hands against the wall on both sides of Ally, leaning against her protectively. Austin noticed this first and blushed. It was Ally's turn to smirk, "Guess I'm not the only one who blushes easily," she said.

Austin rolled his eyes and got off of her. They both got out of the cave and slowly walked back to their spot on the beach. Exhausted, they decided to pack up their things, head home and call it a day.


	5. The Tonight Show

By the next day there were already photos of Austin and Ally's day at the beach posted online. The gang was huddled around the computer that afternoon, skimming through the articles. The pap had gotten everything from the start of their day to the finish.

There was one photo of Austin whispering into Ally's ear, with the headline, "Moon whispering sweet words to new girlfriend."

Another photo showed Austin chasing Ally, with the caption, "Austin chasing after his dream girl"

A third photo captured their moments squirting sunscreen on each other and splashing in the water, with an article that talked about them being a fun and care-free couple.

Then there were the photos of them walking along the beach that followed articles titled, " 'Not a Love Song' Singer finds love"

Finally, the last few photos showed them being chased by the fans. The pictures were described with phrases like, "Fans go crazy for Austin Moon and his songwriter's romance"

Trish and Dez laughed at the last photos, "Well it looks like you guys had a good time at the beach yesterday," said Trish.

"I don't think I've ever ran so fast in my life!" cried Ally.

"I think it was still a fun day," said Austin positively.

"And these photos are really convincing! If I didn't know any better I definitely would have thought you two were an item," said Dez.

Austin and Ally smiled at each other. But the truth was, was that a lot of the time they had spent together wasn't spent acting. Besides the whole romantic walk along the beach, they were just acting how they would naturally act around each other. Just a boy and a girl having a fun time together at the beach. It's amazing how the paparazzi could twist stories so easily. It was the paparazzi twisting the story after all, wasn't it?

"Austin, this is so crazy! Since all those photos have been posted you've gotten like a million more hits on your website. People are leaving comments like how they saw you in some celebrity gossip sites and wanted to check out your music. They all think you're really good!" Trish said excitedly. "Aaannndd, I've already gotten three messages about people wanting to interview you and have you preform on their TV show! Even Gray Deno wants you on the Tonight Show!"

"Gray Deno wants ME on the Tonight Show!" Austin shouted. Everyone in the room screamed in excitement, "This is so crazy! Who knew what a little publicity could do for you!" exclaimed Ally.

"I know, right?" Austin said still excited, "So Trish, when does Gray want me on the show?"

"This Friday," Trish said examining the message on her phone, "and they said they would make all the arrangements for the flight and hotel and expenses."

"You guys are all coming right?" Austin asked.

The room went quiet.

"Austin, it's all the way out in California," Ally said to him gently, "that's the other side of the country!"

"Yeah, after the whole Everglades fiasco, my parents don't exactly trust me to travel with you guys anymore…" said Trish.

"Ditto," said Dez.

"Ally?" asked Austin hopefully.

She gave him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry Austin, my dad isn't letting me travel without him for a long time. Besides I have an algebra test this friday and there's NO WAY I can miss that!" she said.

"Really? you're going to pick algebra over going to California?" he said giving her a look.

She gave him that same look back, "Really? you're gonna ask me that?"

Austin sighed, "guess it's just gonna be me and my parents. wooo what a party that'll be..."

* * *

The night of the interview, Austin was sitting in his dressing room while the make up artists prepped him for the show.

"Is that's your girlfriend everyone is talking about, Mr Moon?" one of the makeup artists said in awe.

Austin brought a picture of Ally just to be that more convincing that he was in a relationship with her and was proving himself to the people at the studio.

"Yep!" said Austin with pride.

"She's beautiful," the makeup artist commented, "love her hair."

Austin just smiled at the picture now. He was really glad he was doing this with Ally. He was just so comfortable with the situation this way. He couldn't imagine himself pretending to be the boyfriend of any other girl but her. Suddenly there was a twinge in his stomach that made him miss her. He wanted her to be with him and see him off onto the stage, heck, he wanted to drag her on stage with him and show her off to the world.

"Okay, Austin, you're ready to go," the makeup artist announced.

"Great!" Austin said enthusiastically as he hopped out of the chair, "Thanks!"

"No problem," the makeup artist replied, "knock 'em dead out there."

Austin stood backstage waiting to be called out.

"So, I was at my sister's house the other day and I see my niece reading one of those teeny-bopper magazines," Gray Deno started the introduction, "I say to her 'Danielle, what garbage are you reading now?' and she goes, 'It's not garbage, Uncle Gray, it's Austin Moon!' Then she starts showing me all the pictures of him in the magazine and goes on and on about him. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't quite convinced that he was as amazing she made him seem. I just saw some good-looking blonde boy that probably only has teenage girls screaming because of his looks. But I wanted to have more faith in my niece's taste in music, so I searched him up to see what kind of talent he had. AND BY GOLLY does this boy have talent. He's got an incredible voice, he's a great performer, everyone please welcome Austin Moon!"

At that, Austin strode onto the stage, shook Gray's hand and took a seat.

"It's great to meet you, Austin," said Gray Deno.

"It's great to meet you too, Gray," replied Austin.

"So Austin, let's talk about your growing fame," began Gray Deno, "I found out you first made it big with your song Double Take. That was what? a year ago?"

"Yep, one year ago," Austin answered. And how could he forget. It was one year ago that he met Ally. Although they had a rough start they ended up becoming the best of friends.

"And since then you've just been gradually building up that fame?"

"Yeah! I've got a great group of friends helping with that. My friend, Trish is my manager, she helps me get on to shows and books my performances."

"Oh yeah, I spoke a bit to Trish…nice girl…"

"Yeah, and my best friend Dez makes my music videos and we'd post at least one every week"

"I looked up more of Dez's videos besides your music videos. He's got a some…interesting stuff?"

"Yeah Dez is great, he wants to be a director someday"

"Well he's got himself a great start. So we've talk about your friends but now let's talk about this girlfriend everyone seems so excited about. I hear she's your songwriter?"

Austin couldn't help but blush at the topic. He was actually going to talk about his and Ally's relationship in front of millions of people.

"Aw look at that blushing ladies. See, he's a sensitive guy," Gray teased.

"Ally's awesome!" Austin burst, sitting up straight and making himself seem confident.

"Ally? is that her name?"

"Yes," Austin replied letting out a deep breath, relaxing himself a bit now, "Ally Dawson. She writes my songs and as of recently, became my girlfriend."

"That's funny 'cause I also had recently read some old news about you having girl problems. Guess you proved them wrong!"

Austin just smiled.

"So tell us how it all started! People are just in love with this romance you have with your songwriter. You're living proof of music being the language of love."

Austin inhaled slowly, not making it look too obvious, and thought to himself, "Okay, Austin, time to improvise." He searched his mind for memories of Ally and what he could play up. So he started, "I first saw her in the music store she works at, Sonic Boom. She was just so stunning I really wanted to get her attention. I thought it must be meant to be if she works in a music store and I have a passion for music. I figured I could easily impress her with some of my music skills so I sat myself at one of the drum sets in the store. There weren't any drumsticks and I didn't have any on me so I used the corn dogs me and my friend Dez just got. I had a great beat going on until suddenly I hear this high pitched whistle and felt someone grab my wrists to stop me from drumming. Just my luck, it was exactly who I hoped it would be. She gave me the best baffled expression ever! but she was clearly mad at me as well. I didn't care too much though, because all I wanted was for her to notice me and that's just what I got."

"So I'm guessing even though she seemed to have not much of a liking for you, you kept trying anyways?"

"ooohh yeahhh"

"We've got an ambitious one here, people!"

The live audience cheered and Austin grinned at the crowd.

"So anyways, please continue!"

"Well then there was this whole thing with an old lady and a harmonica but that's another story. Ally seemed to have gone off somewhere when I wasn't looking. Then I heard this incredible voice coming from a room on the second level of the store, I knew that I probably wasn't allowed up there but I went up there anyways because I just had to find out who was singing. Sure enough I found the beautiful voice was coming from her!"

"She sings too?"

"She can but she won't. She kinda has this complicated stage fright thing."

'Which is why she writes songs for you, right? so she can express her musical talent while you preform them?"

"exactly! And I can't exactly write songs very well so..."

"you're the perfect match!"

"Yeah! So then when I accidentally stole her song and became famous from it I finally convinced her to work with me. We started off as friends but I guess our liking for each other just kinda grew from there."

"So Austin, is you're lovely girlfriend, Ally Dawson, here with you today?"

"Unfortunately, no. Me and my friends kinda had this whole chaos thing happen in the Everglades when I went to go preform for Shiny Money, so our parents don't exactly trust us to travel together."

"Did you guys have anything to do with Shiny Money's sunken boathouse I heard about in the news?"

"Maybe…"

"Crazy kids"

Austin shrugged and smiled innocently, "what can you do?"

"So Ally's stuck at home then, huh?"

"Yeah, I don't think she would have come anyways though. She's been studying all week for this big algebra test she had today, and I think it was too important for her to miss."

"Ah, so you like smart girls"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Do you think she's watching right now?"

"Yeah probably, she's probably with our friends, Dez and Trish, and they're probably all watching together."

"How 'bout you give her a shout out?"

"Sure!" Austin turns his head to face to the cameras, "Hey Ally! Wish you were here with me but I hope that algebra test went well! what am I saying - of course it went well! Miss you, and I'll see you soon!'

The audience let out a harmonized, "awww"

Gray followed with his own "awww" then said, "Well Austin, we're almost out of time, how about you preform that song we planned for you to do? I'm assuming Ally wrote it?"

"You got that right!" Austin said has he got up and headed for the section of the stage where the band was already set up. He started to preform and when he was done the crowd let out loud cheers. Everybody loved him.


	6. Tweeter Followers

**Please note when you get to the Tweeter Twits that I wanted to put the at sign before their Tweeter names but the FanFiction Publishing system wouldn't let me. If anyone knows how I can fix this, let me know please, I would still like to fix it :)**

Indeed, Ally, Trish and Dez were all settled around the TV at Ally's house, together, watching Austin on the Tonight Show with Gray Deno. They were all smiling at each other for the nice things Austin had said about them and were proud of themselves for being part of getting him where he is today and making his dreams come true.

Ally was particularly taken back by how well Austin remembered when they first met. He seemed to have gotten all the details of what had happened that faithful day. When he gave his shout out to Ally on international television, that reoccurring blush that seemed to frequently come over her face recently, washed over her face once again.

"Not only is Austin going to be a successful singer, but he's going to be an amazing actor too!" said Dez, "I mean just look at how well he plays your boyfriend, Ally. I'm going to make sure he stars in all my movies when I'm a director."

When the show ended, Trish said, "Well it's late, I better be heading home," she got up and started to make her way towards the door, "See ya tomorrow. Oh and don't forget you're greeting Austin at the airport tomorrow afternoon."

"Hey Trish, wait up! We can walk home together!" said Dez getting up as well. This caused Trish to quicken her pace. "See ya later, Ally!" he said, then they were both gone.

Not too long after they left, Ally's phone rang, it was Austin. "Hey, Austin," Ally said, "You just missed Dez and Trish, they just left. We were all here at my place, watching you on the Tonight Show!"

"Yeah I thought you guys would be," Austin replied happily, "Hey Ally, did you get my message? ha ha," he said winking into the phone.

"Ha ha, you mean that shout out you gave to me in front of a billion people on international television, yeah I got it, " she answered, "You're such a sap, talking about us like that on TV."

"Hey the crowd loved it!" Austin exclaimed, "And I'm not a sap, just charming," he said cockily.

Ally rolled her eyes into the phone, "Well, nonetheless, I guess it was still sweet. I can't believe how clearly you remembered when we first met!"

Austin rubbed the back of his head and said, "Yeah, me too, but once I started it all came to me so clearly, so I just went with it." He paused then continued to say in a flirtatious, joking manner, "I guess that just goes to show how important you are to me, Ally."

"Austin, you don't have to talk to me like you're my boyfriend on the phone, I'm pretty sure there's no one listening to our conversation," laughed Ally.

"I know, but it's kinda fun to do anyways," Austin said, then a thought crossed his mind, "do friends flirt with each other for fun?" so he then said, "In a , ya know, fun joking kind of way…"

"Right…"Ally replied awkwardly. There was a brief silence then Ally spoke up, "You're flight is coming in tomorrow in the late afternoon, right?"

"Yep," responded Austin, "Will you be there?"

"That's what a good girlfriend would do, right?" said Ally.

Austin smiled, "Right," he said.

"Well you should probably get some sleep now," said Ally, "You've got to wake up early for a long flight don't you?"

"Yeah," groaned Austin, then his voice perked up a bit, "You're such a good girlfriend, looking out for my well-being like that."

Ally laughed, "shut up, go to bed."

Austin laughed then said, "Good night, Ally!"

"Good night, Austin," she said back, then hung up the phone.

After that, Ally decided to check her Tweeter account on her phone. Since becoming Austin Moon's girlfriend she's gotten a lot more followers. And since she checked her account in the afternoon she had gotten 500 more followers. Ally couldn't help but smile at her newly formed popularity. She started to read the twits sent at her. There were ones that were like :

AllyDawson writes such amazing songs for AustinMoon, I think they're perfect for each other

I wish I could have a relationship like them AllyDawson AustinMoon #Auslly

AllyDawson has such beautiful brunette curls! What kind of product do you use?

Although I've always dreamt of being Austin's girlfriend one day, I'm glad to see that Austin is happy and has found love AllyDawson AustinMoon

AllyDawson okay I guess I'll be backing off Austin now, but that doesn't mean I'll stop loving his music! AustinMoon

Seeing these Twits made Ally happy, she was actually helping pull off this plan and not only that but people were actually very supportive of their 'relationship'. Already people have started mashing their names together, Ally noted when she saw the Auslly hash-tag.

But then the positive feelings were crushed when she came across an unpleasant Twit that was sent at her.

**MMHob-Moon ** Austin's#1Fan

Who does AllyDawson thinks she is? I can't believe Austin is dating her, he deserves someone so much better and prettier!

Ally felt as if she had just been slapped right across the face. She had never thought of it that way. That, sure she was able to convince people they were couple but to make them think she was good enough for him was another story. Ally was never one to have a great deal of confidence in herself. However this was just one negative Twit amongst many positive ones so she tried to forget about it and think about what Austin had said to her on their Beach Day.

She thought about how he looked at her meaningfully when he complemented her on her qualities. No one had ever told her anything so sweet so sincerely. She wanted to believe what he said about there being no reason for her to be afraid of performing but she couldn't do it, her stage fright was just too strong.

"Maybe MMHob-Moon is right," Ally thought to herself, "Maybe I am no good for Austin. I can't even preform in front of a single person…"


	7. Airport Arrival

The next day, Ally was at the airport, a good hour before Austin's flight was expected to arrive. She nervously waited for him. Every so often she'd try to casually glance around the airport to see if there was anyone with a camera or appeared to be watching her. But the airport seemed deserted for the most part so Ally, relaxed herself a bit. Ally checked her Tweeter account on her phone for the tenth time since she's been waiting at the airport. She was still getting a combination of positive and negative Twits. And this time it looked like more than one person decided to join the bandwagon that was against 'Auslly' and thought she wasn't a good girlfriend for Austin. She sub-consciously let out a depressed sigh.

"Ally?" she heard a voice from behind her say.

Ally turned in her seat to find it was Dallas who uttered her name, "Hi Dallas," she said more cheerful, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm supposed to be picking up my grandmother, she has a flight coming in, in a half-hour. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm here to see Austin," Ally said, "he was in California for a bit and I thought it would be nice to greet him. Trish and Dez would have come too but they were too busy with other plans," She tried to make it sound like she wasn't there in a girlfriend kind of way.

"Oh right, he was on the Gray Deno Tonight Show," Dallas said, taking a seat beside her. "Um…I didn't know you two were going out…" he added awkwardly, "I kinda always got the feeling you had a thing for me…heheh guess that was pretty stupid and over-confident of me to think…"

"No! no, it wasn't," Ally quickly said as she gently placed her hand on his arm, she then lowered her voice in precaution, to say, "Austin and I are just pretending to date because he was getting bad press about being unpopular with girls. So Trish, Dez and I devised this silly plan for me to be his girlfriend to show that he was actually a good guy. I did really like you Dallas!"

" 'Did' as in pass-tense, right?" he asked.

Ally's mouth opened to say that she still does like him but something was stopping her from saying those words and lying to his face.

Dallas just smiled at Ally's confusion and then shrugged, "It's alright, I'll get over it. I'm just glad we can still be friends." Then his phone buzzed; he pulled it out and made a funny expression at what he just read on it, "My parents should NOT have given my grandmother a cell phone. I think she's trying to say that her plane arrived early. I guess I better look for her then. It was nice seeing you Ally. Good luck with the Austin thing." He gave her a quick hug then left.

Ally sat alone in the airport now, confused with her emotions. Why couldn't she tell Dallas that she still really liked him? Why didn't he give her those nervous butterfly feeling he normally gave her. And why didn't she say something totally, utterly embarrassing and ridiculous? Well she did tell him about her and Austin's fake relationship which probably did sound a bit ridiculous but it was the truth.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the plane back to Miami, Austin was talking with Cassidy.

Before the plane had taken off, Austin heard a surprised female voice say, "Blondie?"

Austin jerked his head up from his phone and saw Cassidy, "Cassidy? What are you doing here?"

"Well, my band is taking a break for a bit so I thought, I'd go back to Miami for a bit and visit some old friends. I'm coming from a connecting flight that flew from LA," then she gave him a slight smirk, "still wanna go on that date?"

"Uh…I can't…I…"Austin stuttered.

She laughed and took the seat beside him. "It's alright, I saw you on the Tonight Show. So you've got a girlfriend now, huh? Too impatient to wait for me?" she said in a teasing way.

"No! Cassidy, it's not like that!" burst Austin but then realized he should bring his voice down to a whisper to avoid any unwanted ears listening to their conversation, he continued, "I'm not actually dating Ally, we're just pretending to date for some good press."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "sell out," she accused.

Austin adverted his eyes to the ground in guilt.

Cassidy chuckled, "I'm kidding, it's alright I get it, you're still kinda new to the music industry so you wanna make yourself look good. Can't have bad press making you look ridiculous now can we?"

Austin then relaxed himself, and shook his head. "But maybe when this whole thing blows over we can have that date?" he whispered.

Cassidy just smiled, "It's sweet that you're keeping to your previous commitments but are you sure you're still gonna want to go on a date with me by then?"

"What are you talking about of course I - " but Austin couldn't complete his sentence. For some reason he felt like that was the dishonest thing to say. Sure, he wanted to see Cassidy again, she was a cool girl to hang out with but to go on a date with her? He felt like he would be betraying Ally, even if they weren't going out.

"I saw the way you looked when you talked about her to Gray Deno," said Cassidy, "don't tell me that was acting 'cause NO ONE is that good of an actor."

"Oh yeah?" said Austin, "and what exactly did I look like?"

"Like a love sick puppy," she replied.

"Shut up," said Austin smiling and giving her a light shove, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh but I do, Blondie," Cassidy said, "because you once gave me that same look when we were working at that diner."

Austin just blushed.

"My boyfriend's love sick look is priceless too, though. Before we started going out, I would catch him looking at me with this dazed look on his face while he chewed on his lower lip, I started to get worry that he might cause it to bleed one day," Cassidy said.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend now?" Austin said, "And you still tried to see if I wanted to go on that date?"

Cassidy laughed, "Relax, Moon, I was only kidding around with you. Like I said, I saw you on the Tonight Show and knew you had a thing going on with Ally."

"You're terrible," Austin said jokingly.

"I know," Cassidy said, rolling her eyes.

"So what's you're boyfriend like?" Austin asked, curious now.

"He's actually, a bit like you," she answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but he's way cooler."

"Impossible"

For the rest of the plane ride the two talked about what has happened since they had last seen each other. Where they were in their music, the obstacles they've had to endure and their successes, that kind of stuff. Before they knew it, the plane was landing in Miami.

"It was good seeing you again, Austin," Cassidy said as they waited to retrieve their bags.

"Yeah, same to you," he replied.

Cassidy spotted her bag first and grabbed it, "Well, I said I'd go meet up with a couple of friend so I've got to go, but maybe I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, for sure," said Austin.

"Cool, see you later then, Blondie," Cassidy leaned in and they hugged, then she left.

When Austin spotted his suitcase, he picked it out and made his way through the airport. Sure enough there was Ally waiting for him. She was looking beautiful, as always, as she stood waiting for him, dressed in her floral, summer dress. She smiled at him and he dropped his bags and started running towards her. He took her in his arms and swung her around. When he put her down he held her for a long embrace. "Could it be true?" Austin thought to himself as he held her close to him, "Is Cassidy right? Am I really in love with Ally?"


	8. Made up stories and expectations

**Just wondering, does anyone know if Mimi is Austin's mom's official name? or is a just a common name used in fanfictions? 'Cause I just named Austin's 'number one fan' Mimi by random :P She doesn't really have anything to do with Austin's mom. **

The next day Ally was working in Sonic Boom, when, Mimi entered in long strides, armed with a water gun and an expression that read pure hatred and loathing. She stopped in front of Ally, gave Ally a death glare and before Ally could say anything, Mimi directed her water gun at Ally and drenched her.

"You ungrateful, greedy piece of dirt!" Mimi shouted at her, "How could you do that to Austin who is probably the best boyfriend in the world! Cassidy would be so much better for him! She seems way cooler!" With that, Mimi turned on her heel and stormed out of the store.

Ally was in pure shock at what had just happened. As she stood their dripping wet, she tried to come to terms with what just happened. First of all, she had no idea what Mimi meant by calling her an 'ungrateful, greedy piece of dirt' and second of all, how did she know who Cassidy was? Austin hadn't seen her in ages, or at least so she thought.

Suddenly, Trish walks into the store at a fast pace. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, she says as she heads straight at Ally. She comes around the counter, grabs Ally's hand and drags her up to the practice room, not noticing how wet Ally is. Ally doesn't even get the chance to protest, Trish just continues to repeat, " Oh no, oh no, oh no."

"Trish, what's going on?" Ally asks, worried.

"Why are you all wet? … never-mind… What happened at the airport yesterday?" Trish asked her sternly.

"What? Nothing? I greeted Austin at the airport, we shared an intimate hug then hung out at his place afterwards."

"Cassidy wasn't there?"

"What? no…why would Cassidy have been there?"

"And Dallas?"

"Um…Dallas was there but before Austin arrived…"

"Ally! did you flirt with him?"

"NO! Trish will you please slow down and explain to me why you're asking these questions!"

"Because of this!" Trish said showing Ally an online gossip article on her phone.

Ally gasped. There were pictures of her and Dallas at the airport and it DID look like she was flirting with him. But following those pictures were photos of Austin and Cassidy on the plane and getting their bags at the Miami Airport. And it looked like THEY were smitten too. The headline of the article was "Miami's cutest couple seeing other people behind each other's backs"

Ally put her hand to her forehead in distraught. "Trish, this is awful! What are we going to do?"

"I don't know!" Trish said in a panicked voice.

"Austin's fans are going to hate me! AND they're going to think Cassidy is a better girlfriend for Austin than I am! I already get enough hate Twits as is!" cried Ally.

"You get hate Twits?" said Trish surprised.

Ally nodded sadly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want to let the group down and think I wasn't able to continue the role."

"Ally you should have told us! We would have helped you!"

"I didn't want you guys to be fighting my battles!"

"Austin is not going to be happy with any of this!"

As if on queue, Austin came into the practice room, "Hey, Ally, there isn't exactly anyone watching the store…why are you wet?"

"Mimi," Ally simply answers.

"What? Why?" asks Austin.

"Because of this!" Trish said as she forced her phone into Austin's hand to show him the article.

His expression drops.

"How could you just go carelessly flirt with Cassidy, Austin?" exclaimed Trish.

"Hey Ally, got caught flirting with Dallas!" Austin defended himself.

"I wasn't flirting!" Ally projected.

"Well I wasn't flirting with Cassidy!" says Austin.

"Well your fans don't hate you for flirting with Cassidy! In fact, I bet they all think she's great! Much prettier than ME! They all hate me!" Ally broke down into tears.

Austin softened his tone a bit, "Ally, what are you talking about? my fans hate you?"

Ally continued to sob, and Trish explained for her, "She's been getting hate Twits since you guys have been 'dating' And now that the pap have made her look like she's cheating on you, well she going to get a lot more."

"Ally, why didn't you tell me this was going on?"

Trish then told Austin what Ally had told her.

"They're just all so…mean," says Ally as she tries to choke back her tears and stop herself from crying, "They tell me I'm ugly, I don't have any talent, that I let you do all the work while I hide behind the scenes, they tell me I'm not good enough for you! I can't do this anymore Austin!"

Austin and Trish just stared at Ally, in slight shock. "Ally, are you saying you want to stop helping Austin?"

"It's not that I want to stop helping Austin, I just don't think I can help him in this way anymore."

"You want to break up?" Austin asked.

The words pierced Ally's ears. That was essentially what she wanted to do, she felt like she was holding him back. But to hear him say that, gave her a pain in the pit of her stomach. Even though they weren't a real couple, the idea of breaking up seemed devastating. No more holding hands, no more cuddling, no more flirting. They would just go back to the way things were before, when Ally was out of the spotlight and she was just his songwriter. They could just go back to the way things were, couldn't they?

Ally slowly nodded, "It'll be better this way. I mean, you've done it right? You've proved to the world that Austin Moon is a good guy and great boyfriend. You don't need my help anymore, in fact I'm probably just in the way from you getting a real girlfriend."

Austin just stared at her in disbelief. He didn't want a real girlfriend. He just wanted to be with Ally. But Austin didn't have the guts to tell her that at the moment. He wasn't ready to tell her that he may be falling for her, heck he wasn't even sure of it himself. So instead he said, "I still do need you, though, Ally. We can't break up now because the media will just make me look like some cheating scoundrel who breaks girls' hearts!"

"It's just always about you, isn't it!" snapped Ally.

Austin was dismayed by Ally's sudden accusation. "I'm just trying to not embarrass myself as we get into the music industry!" he said back.

"Trust me, I'm not helping you from embarrassing yourself, I'm probably making it worse."

"You're not making it worse! Why are you always so negative about yourself? It's like when you can't meet people's expectations you just shoot yourself down! That's why you have stage fright; you know that right? Because you're afraid of not meeting people's expectations."

Ally was hurt by Austin pointing out her flaw. So she said out of anger, "Well you're the one who cares too much about what others say about you! Why should you care? You know the truth, isn't that enough?" She waited for him respond but when he didn't she continued, "I'm just so tired of pretending. I'm tired of having all this attention."

"Are you tired of me, Ally?" he asks her.

"wha-?" she said puzzled.

" 'Cause you must be tired of me, if you're tired of the attention and meeting people's expectations. And you know, if I'm going to be famous in the music industry, you'll be famous too, whether you're my girlfriend or not, because everyone will know you're my songwriter. And they'll be paying attention to you still and they'll have expectations. Maybe I should just leave you out of it completely. Take the pressure off of you." Austin had nothing else to say after that, so he turned and left the practice room.


	9. New Plan

A week had passed. Ally and Austin hadn't spoken a single word to each other since the fall out. He never came by Sonic Boom anymore. He never asked Ally for a new song. It was like he had disappeared from her life.

The last time Ally checked the gossip articles, there was only one short one that talked about how her and Austin seemed to have vanished from the spotlight and their romance was just a quick fling. All the other online gossip sites had moved on to bigger and greater things.

The hate Twits had died down but Ally lost a lot of followers in the process. She didn't care though. At least she wasn't getting any unwanted attention. Basically all of her and Austin's fame faded away, which is what she wanted, wasn't it?

Well it wasn't exactly it. She still wanted her and Austin's success in the music industry but she didn't want to reach their fame this way. She just wanted to reach recognition for making great music.

When Ally was on her break, she sat alone in front of the piano in the practice room. Ally felt hallow inside. All the songs she wrote for herself came out depressing. She couldn't bring herself to write about something more positive like the way she did for Austin. Something was missing. A piece of her that would find those fun, happy tunes she used to write.

She found herself thinking about Austin again. She thought about how she missed him, his smile, his constant upbeat mood, how he never gives up on his dream, she even missed his ego. Not only did she miss him but she missed the couple things they got to do when they were trying to create a fake romance for the paparazzi. She missed getting to hold his hand, thoughtfully leaning her head against his, sharing warm hugs, and hearing those sweet words he'd say to her.

She started to think about the many things Austin has told her. How he believed she was talented, smart and even pretty. Then she thought about how he brought up that she only had stage fright because she didn't like disappointing people's expectations for her. This thought was followed by guilt for getting mad at him for revealing that.

She felt guilty because she realized that he was just trying to help her recognize what she needed to do to overcome her stage fright. And all this time he's been helping her overcome this problem of expectations by telling her, her best qualities. Her best qualities were achieve not only because that's who she was but because that's what she wanted to excel in. She did the best in the things she was good at because they were what she liked to do and she had set the expectation for herself that, that's what she would be great in. It was about doing the best she could do and being satisfied with herself with what she accomplished. It wasn't about satisfying others. It wasn't about being a certain way because that's what they expect you to be.

"Stupid Austin and being right," she said to herself.

* * *

On the cloudy afternoon, Austin was at the beach walking by himself. The weather wasn't ideal for going to the beach so it wasn't crowded with people and he didn't have to worry about people bugging him. Not that he had to worry anyways. Since his fall out with Ally, his fame had slowly died out. There was no relationship to follow and since Ally wasn't writing him any new songs, there was nothing new to post or preform.

"This was such a stupid idea," he thought to himself as he kicked some sand, "As if faking a relationship was a good plan for getting some attention." And the attention he did ended up getting was definitely not worth what ended up happening. He ended up loosing everything. Well not everything, there was still Trish and Dez but things have been awkward lately as they tried to figure out what their next move was and how they were going to still be friends if him and Ally weren't talking to each other. Because he lost connection with Ally, he lost his songwriter and a good friend. Without her, he was basically nothing in the music industry. She was pretty much his everything.

"Why did I have to care so much what others said about me?" Austin questioned himself. Then the memory of what Ally had said to him that day they "broke up" came to his mind. When she told him that knowing the truth himself should be good enough. She was right. If he had known that before, none of this would have happened. He shouldn't have cared what those gossip columns said, they had nothing to do with his music and preforming. And that's what it was really about, sharing his love for music, not what others had to say about his life. He knew who he was and that's all that should really matter, he couldn't control what others thought of him.

Austin sighed, "Ally's always right."

"Pffft, no she's not," Austin heard a voice say from behind him.

Austin swerved around and saw Mimi beaming up at him. "How long have you been there?" he asks her nervously.

"Not long," she replies. "Austin you're not actually upset that you and Ally are broken up, are you?"

"How do you know that we've broken up?" he asks her.

"Because you haven't released any new songs, there's been nothing online about you two, and lets be real, if you guys were still together, you'd be with her right now."

She got him there.

"Anyways, you can just find a new songwriter. There are millions of them out there!"

"yeah, but there's only one Ally Dawson," Austin mumbled to himself.

Mimi didn't hear this and continued talking, "We, the fans, want to hear you sing again Austin! You don't need Ally for you to preform. You can do better than her anyways. She's nothing but a senseless, selfish brat who was probably only with you because of your looks. Then another good-looking guy comes along while your gone, and she goes and flirts with him!"

"'Kay, one, she's not a senseless, selfish brat, and two, she didn't flirt with him," Austin said, setting the story straight.

"Well, whatever, she's not important. I mean she basically lets you do all the work. She just writes the song and then you're the one who preforms it, and promotes the music and brings it to life!"

"Writing the song IS a lot of work. Ally is bringing it to life just as much as I do. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Well I think I do! I mean I've got a bunch of followers who agree me!"

"Followers?"

"Yeah, on Tweeter. I've basically led people to the realization that Ally wasn't any good for you. You should follow me too! MMHob-Moon, Austin's#1Fan. Like how I combined our last names? I thought it was clever."

"Why would you do something so mean? Why do you hate her so much?"

Mimi scrunched her eyebrows and pouted, "Because it's not FAIR!" she burst, "I had our whole future planned together and then she comes into the scene and ruins EVERYTHING! I'm your number one fan! I'm the one who is completely and utterly devoted to you! It should be ME!"

Austin was scared now, he was ready to run, but he wanted to make things right so he said, " I'm not the guy for you Mimi, you just think I am because you're blinded by this facade you get from seeing me preform and hearing my music. Trust me there are many things that you probably wouldn't like about me. I'm childish, cocky, a slob - "

Mimi cut him off there, "whoa, you're a slob?"

"Yeah I hate cleaning," Austin said, "I'm kind of lazy like that."

She shivers as if something just creeped up her spine. "Deal breaker," she says, "I'm pretty much a clean freak like my mother. unfortunately that's just how she raised me. Sorry Austin, looks like it's just not going to work between us."

Austin just smiled, "It's alright, I understand."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to stop listening to your music though!"

"If I have any new music to continue with…"

"Ally really is the only one that can write for you, huh?"

"Yeah! She just knows me so well. She knows what I can make sound good and preform well, she knows my style."

Mimi then held on tightly to each of Austin's upper arms, looked him sternly in the eyes and said, "Well then you need to get back together with Ally! Because the world needs to hear more of Austin Moon's wonderful voice singing!" Then she released him and started to run off, "Good luck!" she called out as she left.

* * *

Trish and Dez were sitting in the mall food court. They had resorted to hanging out with each other because Trish wouldn't hangout with Ally because she was too depressing to be around. Trish had already tried to get Ally out of her funk countless times but no go. Dez was avoiding Austin because…well…he wasn't really sure himself why he was avoiding Austin. All he knew was that there was a lot of tension lately and Austin had something he needed to figure out on his own. Trish had filled him in on the disaster that happened between Austin and Ally. He knew this plan wasn't foolproof but he wasn't one to criticize Trish's ideas.

"So much for getting Austin and Ally together," Dez finally said in their silence.

"Yeah, I was so sure that this would have worked… wait… hey how did you know that's what I was trying to do?"

"Please Trish," he then mimicked her sobs when they were in the practice room rehearsing Austin and Ally's relationship, " 'it's like you're straight out of a movie!' " then he recomposed himself, "you've been dying to see those two together."

"Okay, so sue me!" said Trish defensively, "Is it wrong that I wanted to see two people that are meant to be together, be together. They're too blind to see it themselves so I thought I'd help out!"

"But you ruined their friendship in the process! See, this is what happens when you meddle."

"Since when are you Mr. know-it-all?" Trish glared at Dez.

"As of now," Dez replies crossing his arms.

They sit quietly for a moment.

"Well Mr. Know-it-all do you have any ideas how we can fix this? 'Cause it's been a week and they haven't said a single word to each other. This has to stop! Not just to fix their music partnership but more importantly their friendship! We can't let them throw it away just like that!"

"As a matter of fact I do," Dez replied with a smug smile.

Now regretting she asked, Trish says, "Oh boy, I can't wait to hear this…"


	10. Some Help

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in Sonic Boom when Ally's phone rang.

"Hey, Trish," Ally sighed into her phone.

"Ally come to the beach quick! Dez was out filming on the water in a boat when this wave comes out of no where and wrecks it! I don't see him anywhere!"

"Okay, Trish calm down! I'll be right there!" Ally quickly closed the store and ran for the beach.

When she got to the beach she found Trish sitting on the dock, looking out into the water. However there was a red head boy sitting beside her that looked a lot like Dez. Not only that but Austin arrived at the same time as Ally did.

"TRISH WHERE'S DEZ!" they both say, before realizing it was Dez sitting beside her.

They both turn around and Austin and Ally were confused. "Dez is fine, he was never out in the water," says Trish, "We just wanted to talk to the two of you together about something important."

"Well if it was important, then I'm pretty sure we would have both came to see you," Ally said, keeping her eyes on Trish and away from Austin.

Trish shrugged, "I know, we just wanted to see how fast you two could get here,"

"Fifteen minutes guys? really? I could be a goner by now," said Dez.

Trish gives him a light kick, for Dez to shut up. "Anyways," she said, "The Miami Music Fest is coming up and I signed Austin up as one of the performances. I know it's not a huge gig but it's better than nothing. I also told them that Austin would have a new song to sing, so Ally, we're gonna need a new song. Also there's no backing out of this or else you ruin the whole festival! People have already started to buy tickets to see Austin preform. Alright, that's it it, good luck!' And with that, she and Dez were gone.

Austin and Ally were shocked as they watched them leave. They were speechless by the fact that Trish has basically just forced them to work together. Even when she knew very well that they were avoiding each other.

"I can't believe she just did that," said Ally.

"Without asking us at all," said Austin.

"Just tossed us into it,"

"Like a sack of potatoes"

"Yeah like a sack of- wait like what?"

"never-mind"

The stood silently for a moment.

"So I guess we should get together sometime and start working on that song," Austin says.

"Yeah," said Ally, "I guess so. When are you free?"

"Pretty much whenever."

"Okay, cool, tomorrow night then?"

"yeah okay."

"Okay"

Then they went their separate ways.

* * *

On the night they agreed that they would work on a new song, Austin arrived at Sonic Boom promptly. He couldn't help but be excited to see her again and to be writing a song with her again. He slipped in through the doors just as Ally was closing.

"Hi Ally," he said politely.

"Hi Austin," she replied with the same polite tone, "You can head up to the practice room if you want, I'll be there in a sec."

Since when did Austin need permission to go to the practice room? Was this how it was going to be from now on? Just a professional relationship where they spoke formally and politely to each other?

When Austin entered the practice room he took a seat on the piano bench and started to press keys at random. Soon Ally entered the practice room as well. He turned his body in his seat and watched her come in.

"What?" she asked, catching him staring at her.

He quickly looked back at the piano and said, "Nothing."

She took a seat beside him and held her book. She pressed her lips together, then said, "Um…I don't exactly know how to put this…but basically…I've had absolutely no ideas for a song for the past week. Well I have but they're not exactly you're style…"

"What are you talking about, Ally, I love everything you write," he says.

Ally blushes.

Austin then realizes that maybe 'love' was too strong of a word so use, at the moment, considering the current awkward and complicated state of their relationship. Nonetheless he continues to be more encouraging as he always is, "Why don't you just show me one. I'll keep an open mind, I promise."

"You can't look at my book!" she said wide-eyed and protectively held onto her book.

Austin lightly laughed, "obviously, I'm not allowed to look at your book. Just play it for me. Like you normally do?"

Ally hesitated. It was different playing for Austin now. Since they've been keeping their distance from each other, that comfort they had with each other was gone. Plus she was certain that he wasn't going to like any of the songs that she had written recently. So what was the point of showing him? But he looked at her with such eager eyes that she rather show him something rather than nothing. So she flipped through her book to find a song that was the least depressed sounding. She took a deep breath and played it for him. When she was done she waited for him to respond.

"That was…" Austin paused to find the right words, "interesting."

"I told you you wouldn't like it!" cried Ally, "I don't know why but recently, I can only write songs that have these sad moods to them. I keep trying to go for something more happy but-"

"Ally, Ally! Calm down!" Austin said, "It's not that I don't like it, it's just that you're right, it's not my style. It's still a really good song though. Powerful words, soft melody, has a nice flow, it's great! Just not something I would preform."

Ally settled down, and considered his sensitive words.

"You do realized what just happened here though, right?"

Ally looked at him curiously.

"You just preformed for me, an audience, you didn't meet my usual expectation of giving me an awesome song I could preform, I mean I liked it of course, but it wasn't the usual. Ally, this is what you've been fearing from your stage fright all this time, not meeting someone's expectations. See it wasn't so bad, was it?"

Ally smiled and shook her head. "But you're my friend, Austin, it's kind of different than preforming in front of an actual audience."

Austin raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised, "We're still friends?"

Ally looked down slightly embarrassed by what she had let slip from her lips, "If you still want to be…" she said.

Then she felt strong arms wrap tightly around her. "Of course I still want to be friends!" he exclaimed as hugged her, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess and walked out on you."

"I'm sorry I made you feel like you were a problem in my life, you're not by the way, you're the opposite actually."

Austin just smiled and held her for a moment longer. When he released her, Ally said sadly, "we still don't have a song though. and with this down kind of mood I've been in, I don't know how I'm supposed to write an upbeat song that would be more suitable for you."

"Well then we'll just do what we did when I originally tried to get you to write a song for me; when we wrote our first song together."

Ally cocked her head to one side, confused by what he was talking about.

Austin hit the lights, turned on the rainbow lamp and blasted the music. "It's time to fun you up!" he announced. He started to dance in the goofy style that Ally would usually dance in. He took her hands and pulled her up. But she didn't move. "Come on, Ally, don't let me do this alone," Austin said.

Trying to please him, Ally started to tap her foot to the beat of the tune. Then she started to get really into the music and started dancing to it with her usual bizarre dance moves.

They danced together and started to laugh with one another. Austin twirled Ally and she was able to continue dancing without falling. He continued to hold her hand as they continued to dance together.

Then Ally, finally said, "I feel it again! I feel that fun, happy mood I get when I write songs for you!" Ally excitedly went over the piano and started working on the new song.

It was midnight by the time they were almost finished writing the song.

"You know what would make this song even better," Austin said.

"what?" Ally asked.

"If we made it into a duet!" Austin said, "I can picture it so clearly, it would be great!"

"And who would sing with you?" asked Ally.

"You, of course," said Austin.

"ME!" Ally was blown by Austin's idea. This was by far one of the craziest ideas he's ever come up with. "I can't get up on stage in front of all those people at Miami Music Fest! Austin, my stage fright -"

"that you're really close to overcoming," Austin said completing her sentence, "Ally you're already over not meeting my expectations with that previous song you wrote. Everything's fine. Heck you ended up writing a song that went beyond my expectations of what you usually write. You're incredible Ally. You don't have to worry about disappointing anyone because you just amaze them in the end."

Ally thought for a moment then asked, "Help me?"

Austin looked at her quizzically.

"Help me overcome my stage fright?"

Austin held Ally's hand, "I'm always here to help you."


	11. You're Awesome

The next night, when Austin came by to practice the song with Ally, he arrived at Sonic Boom with a handkerchief in his hand. "Hey, Ally!" he said excitedly, "quick put this over your eyes, I have a surprise for you!"

"What?" Ally said confused as she took the handkerchief, "I thought you were going to help me with me stage fright, Austin."

"I am," he said, helping her tie it over her eyes. He waved his hand in front of her face, "Can't see, right?"

"Of course not!"

"Good. And Ally? " he said, "you trust me, right?"

"I let you blindfold me didn't I?"

Austin smiled, "Yeah. Okay, let's go." He started to guide her through the outdoors mall and Ally just let him lead, without any idea of where he was taking her.

Finally, they arrived to their destination. Ally heard themselves enter a large, echoey space.

"Stay here for a moment," said Austin and he left her side.

"Austin can I take my blindfold off now?" Ally asked but took it off anyways. For a quick moment Ally found herself standing in darkness and could only make out shadows. Then she heard a switch go off and the room was illuminated.

Ally stood there motionless and breath-taken by the scene. She stood on the stage of an old theatre. Before her were rows of faded red velvet chairs. Along the walls the paint was peeling away, but the pillars that stood along them still looked stunning with their finely, detailed capitals. Then Ally noticed beside her on the stage was a dusty, black grand piano. Her eyes travelled up the aisle to the end of it where Austin stood at the top smiling at her.

"Isn't it awesome!" he said spreading his arms out.

"Awesome? Austin this is incredible!" Ally exclaimed. "Where are we?"

"Some, old abandon theatre," replied Austin as he came down the aisle to join Ally on the stage, "Dez and I found it when we were looking for an interesting place to film."

"You're sure no one ever comes here?" Ally asked.

"We've never seen anyone around," Austin shrugged, "There might be a few ghosts hanging around but that's it."

Ally rolled her eyes.

"Okay, shall we?" he said directing her to the piano.

Ally took a seat on the piano bench.

"Close your eyes," he told her.

Ally shut her eyes.

"Imagine an audience,"

Ally shrunk herself when she started to picture the audience. Everyone was watching her, waiting for her to do something. There was a bright spotlight on her. She imagined it making her feel warm and started to make her sweat. She went to press one key but the audience already started to boo her and frowned at her. Ally's eyes flew open. Austin's face was right in front of her, staring back at her with a bewildered expression. She was startled by his closeness.

"That was some pretty intense imagining," he said.

"Sorry," she said.

"No need to apologize," he laughed, then said more sensitively, "so what did you see?"

"A huge audience. I was getting all gross and sweaty from the spotlight and when I went to go play they started to frown at me and boo me!"

"Okay, give me a sec," Austin said. He ran off the stage and up to the tech booth. He switched on some spotlights then ran somewhere in the rows of seats. He called out to her, "Ally which section am I standing in?"

Ally tried to look for him but she couldn't see him, she could barely see just beyond the edge of the stage. "I don't know! I can't see with these blinding spotlights on!" she complained.

Austin went back to switch them off then returned to her. "See," he said, "you can't even see the audience, so if they're frowning at you , you would have no idea. It's just like how you got comfortable with acting in front of the paparazzi cameras that you couldn't see. "

"But what about when I can see the audience?" Ally asked, "I mean, Miami Music Fest is outdoor concerts. It'll be brighter out, the audience won't be hidden by darkness until night falls and they probably won't turn on the lights until then. So nothing will be blinding me"

"True," said Austin, "But I just wanted to point out that, that's what it actually looks like."

"And what about the booing?" Ally asked nervously, "I'm bound to hear those!"

"No you're not," he said, "You'll be wearing ear plugs because hearing all that extra noise kinda distracts you from playing."

Ally sat silently thinking it over, she still wasn't sure about herself performing despite these accommodations that helped 'erase' the audience from her knowledge of their existence.

Austin continued to try to help her, "But there really is no use in trying to pretend that the audience isn't there. Because the point is, is that I want you to be able to feel confident about preforming in front of people. I mean, it helps to pretend they're not there because it helps you focus on your music more but you're not just up there to play music for yourself. You're up there to play for others, and you have to acknowledge that they're there because you're doing it for them too. And you're going to need confidence to show them what you can do."

Ally listened to him intently. She was amazed by Austin's knowledge of performing. He was so sure in everything he said. He really did have a passion for presenting music for people.

"Ally, I've told you a million times about how great you are at singing and playing music. It's your natural gift just like it is for me! So you've got no reason to be scared that you're not going to please people. Not everyone is as judgemental as those art school evaluators."

He had a point there, Ally thought to herself. People weren't going to see her perform to make judgements on her, they were going there because they wanted to see her. Well, in this case Austin, but if she was to ever have a show of her own, they would be going to see her because they already like what she does.

"How about we try playing the song, just like we would in the practice room," suggested Austin.

So they did. Ally played without a problem, even though she was on a stage in the setting of a performer. Austin's words were so deeply sunken into her mind and she had no trouble imagining herself in the practice room.

When they finished, Austin said, "Okay, now I want you to imagine an audience when you play."

Ally closed her eyes and started to lift her hands to the piano keys but her hands just hovered above them. Then she felt hands place themselves on top of her's. They guided her hands on the piano and they both started to play with Ally's imaginary audience still in her mind. But this time they didn't boo, instead they began to clap along to the beat of the music. When they finished playing Ally opened her eyes to find Austin still leaning over her with his arms around her and his hands on top of her's. He smiled at her.

"Just to give you a start," he winked at her, "but obviously I can't always be up there with you, guiding your hands, Ally. You're not my puppet." he laughed, taking his seat back beside her.

No, Austin wasn't always going to be up on stage with her but having him play music with her did give her an idea. She realized that having him there with her made her feel so much more comfortable being in front of a crowd. It was like he was her confidence because he was always telling her how great she was. So when she went try to play again she imagined the audience but also Austin being there with her. He was softly speaking to her about her amazing piano playing, her talent for writing songs, her lovely voice, just like how he has told her in the past. When Ally finished playing her song she heard clapping.

"Ally that was great!" Austin said, "A bit slower than how you usually play, but still awesome! Did you imagine the audience?"

She nodded. She didn't tell him about imagining him on stage with her though. She was slightly embarrassed by the idea of the kind of effect he had on her.

So they continued to practice every night before the Miami Music Fest. Austin even brought in things to make it seem like there was an actual audience sitting before Ally. He brought in a recording of an audience to make it sound like there was an audience and he brought pictures of an audience to project onto the backdrop of the stage using the theatre's projector. By the time Miami Music Fest came around, Ally felt like she was ready to face her fear.

The night before the big show, Ally went to bed early with the intentions of being well rested for tomorrow. But it took her a while to fall asleep. Her nerves were getting to her and she tossed and turned in her bed. Then, in the middle of the night, her cell phone started to ring. She grabbed it from her bed side table and saw that it was Austin. "Hey Austin," she said.

"I thought you might still be awake," he said and lightly chuckled.

"Yeah, I keep thinking about our show tomorrow," she mumbled.

"You've got nothing to stress about. We played perfectly together during tonight's practice."

"Yeah but I still haven't played in front of a REAL audience. What if I mess up?"

"If you mess up Ally, it's not the end of the world. You just keep playing. Most of the time the audience doesn't even notice that you screwed up."

Ally was just silent on the other end of the line.

"Hey Ally?"

"Hm?"

"You're awesome,"

Ally smiled, "Thank's Austin, you're awesome too."

"Get some, sleep okay?"

"For sure"

"Sweet dreams"

"Good night"

Ally hung up and thought about Austin for a moment. He really was an amazing guy. He looked out for her so much, she didn't even really understand why he cared so much. The memories of how they acted like a couple began to flood her mind. She remembered towards the end of their 'relationship' she began to feel butterflies in her stomach when he would look at her adoringly. She recalled how much she enjoyed getting to hold onto him or when he would playfully twirl her hair through his fingers as they talk to each other. Realizing how much she enjoyed being Austin's fake girlfriend made her think, "I think I've fallen for my best friend."

But would he love her back? why should he? They've been friends all this time what could possibly make him change his mind about seeing her as more than a friend? These were questions Ally didn't want to worry about at the moment. She had duet to perform tomorrow and she had to focus on that instead. But as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn't stop thinking about Austin and what it would be like if he was her real boyfriend.


	12. Real all along

**WHAAA-? Last Chapter already? Yep, this is it folks, the last addition to 'Real Love'. Hope you liked it as much as I liked writing it. Thanks to those who've been following my fanfiction this whole time, I appreciate all your comments :) And, as always, I'd love to read what you have to say about this last chapter or even the story as a whole. Please Enjoy. **

On the day of Miami Music Fest, Austin and Ally were hanging out backstage, waiting for their turn for their show. Austin was tuning his guitar, and Ally sat with him trying to stay relaxed. Her previous thoughts of Austin were still in her mind but with them going on stage in a matter of moments, they were barely her focus.

"Nervous?" Austin asked as he tested the B-string of his guitar.

"Still a bit flat," Ally said, "and yeah I feel like my stomach is twisted into a billion knots."

"Don't be," Austin said fixing his B-string, "just remember everything I've been telling you."

"I know," Ally said with a smile, "And Austin?"

"Yeah?" he said looking up from his guitar.

"Thank you," Ally said, "for everything, I couldn't be doing this without you."

"No problem, Ally," Austin said smiling back at her, "Anything for you"

Hearing those words made Ally happy, he made her feel special. She believed in herself more, that she could perform for the crowd that awaited her.

Now they stood back stage waiting to be introduced. As they waited Ally felt the need to hold onto Austin's hand so she subconsiously went for it. He didn't pull away, instead he gave her hand a tight squeeze to reassure her everything was going to be fine, and he smiled down at her. That smile did wondrous things for her; it was like an infectious happiness that she couldn't resist feeling.

The organizer of the festival walked out onto the stage. "Hey everyone! You all excited to see Austin Moon perform this evening?" The crowd gave a loud cheer. "Great! Well we've got a special treat for you! Because he will be performing a new song tonight and not only that but it'll be his first duet which he'll perform with his songwriter, Ally Dawson!"

At that queue, Austin and Ally found their spots on stage. Ally sat at the piano and Austin sat nearby with his guitar. Ally could see the crowd and all the faces that watched her, but she didn't let it bother her. She just did what she's been doing all this time when she practiced with Austin.

Dez and Trish were in the audience completely surprised by what was happening. They had no idea what was going on or how Ally was even able to be standing on stage right at that moment. They looked at the stage, then looked at each other, then back at the stage, with their mouths gaping like fish.

The music started, and Austin and Ally performed their new song flawlessly. Their new song was followed by a cover of another duet, then they performed a few of Austin's older songs that they were able to work into duets. The crowd cheered for an encore and Austin and Ally performed their new song again.

When they were done, Ally felt amazing. She got a huge rush from being on stage and it felt so great to overcome her fear. Not only that but she got to prove to any of those hateful tweeters that told her she wasn't good enough for Austin because she couldn't perform, that she could actually perform. And even if they didn't see her, it didn't matter, because she would know it.

Dez and Trish met Austin and Ally back stage completely blown away.

"Oh my gosh! Ally! Austin! that was the most spectacular duet I've ever heard! You guys were awesome!" cried Trish.

"Yeah! you guys sounded awesome! I didn't know you had a voice like that Ally," Dez said.

Ally just smiled.

"Ally, I can't believe you got over your stage fright! I haven't heard you sing in forever! How did you do it?" Trish asked.

"Austin helped me," Ally explained.

Austin smiled proudly.

"Amazing," said Trish.

"Thanks!" Austin and Ally said together.

"The plan went better than expected, hey Dez?" Trish said giving herself and Dez a pat on the back for their accomplishment.

"Uh, plan?" asked Ally.

Trish explained casually, "Oh you know… we knew that you and Austin weren't going to talk to each other unless we did something to force you guys to see each other again. So we signed Austin up for Miami Music Fest, knowing that he was going to need something new to preform for it. So obviously he was going to have to work with you for that. We didn't expect you to overcome your stage fright in the process, just write a great song together for Austin to preform. And hey! it worked out way better because not only did you get over your stage fright but that duet had to be one of the greatest things we've ever heard!"

Austin and Ally gave Dez and Trish unimpressed looks for them having meddled with their lives.

"We couldn't let you just ruin a great friendship and partnership!" Trish protested.

Ally sighed, "I guess she's right. Who knows how long we would have gone without talking to each other?"

Austin just nodded in agreement. "Thank you guys," he smiled.

Ally second that thank you.

"and just for the record," Dez started, "I came up with this idea, Trish was the one who came up with the idea that -"

But Trish quickly interrupted him and said nervously, "Okay! we'll let you finish packing up, catch up with us later, okay?" and she and Dez left.

"Well that was a bit weird," said Ally.

Austin shrugged, "It's Dez and Trish."

As Austin and Ally helped take down the set up and packed away their own instruments they were frequently visited by fans from the audience that had just watched them. They said things like:

"Oh my gosh, that new song is officially my new favourite song!"

"You guys sounded amazing together! Hey Ally, I thought you had stage fright? Well if you do, you did super well for someone who does!"

"You guys are like the perfect couple, I'm so glad to see you're back together. And performing together too! Please tell me you're going to continue doing songs together!"

"Best. Duet. Ever."

All the comments began to get a bit overwhelming, Ally wasn't used to being so praised. But of course, she still appreciated everyone's input and thanked them all for their kind words. As did Austin. The organizer of the Miami Music Fest said that the show was so successful that he wanted to make sure that BOTH Austin AND Ally would be back to perform together next year. Without the need to give it a second thought, they said yes.

When Austin and Ally were ready to meet up with Trish and Dez, Trish and Dez said that they would celebrate Austin and Ally's great performance tomorrow because they were tired and called it a night already. Though, Trish encouraged them to celebrate tonight anyways because it was well deserved.

So Austin and Ally went out for dinner. They ordered some burgers to go and brought them to the beach. It was nighttime and there were only a few couples on the beach. Austin and Ally sat on the sand and enjoyed the large bright moon that hung in the clear night sky.

When they finished eating, Ally said, "you know, people think we're a couple again after seeing us perform together on stage."

"Hm yeah, I guess they do, don't they," Austin said casually.

"Does that mean we're going to have to pretend to be a couple again?" Ally asks.

"No," said Austin, "I'm not going to force you to do that again. After what you said to me about caring too much about what others say about me, I realized you were right. Why should I care, as long as I know the truth and the people I care about know the truth, then I'm fine."

Ally smiled, "Good to hear, Austin."

They sat quietly for moment. Side by side. From instinct of pretending to be Austin's girlfriend, Ally leaned against Austin, tilting her head on his shoulder. Then she realized what she was doing and jolted her head back up, "Sorry," she apologized, embarrassed, "old habit."

"That's okay," he said, "I don't mind."

So, making herself comfortable, Ally settled her head on his shoulder again and they admired the the moonlight.

"It's beautiful," Ally says softly.

"Yeah, " Austin says, looking at Ally, "You are."

Ally tilts her head up and looks at him curiously.

Austin could feel his face warm up from what he just let slip from his mouth. This was it, he was finally sure of how he truly felt about Ally and he had to tell her. So he builds up his courage, then says, "You know, we don't have to pretend to be a couple but….would you ever consider being a real one?"

Ally is surprised by this suggestion. But also extremely happy to hear this. she asks him, "Where is this coming from?"

Austin shrugged and began to ramble, "I miss those things that we pretended to do as a couple. And you're always on my mind, Ally. And when you're not around, I miss you. When we were avoiding each other, I still wanted to see you even if I was mad at you. I can't help but want to be that guy that you're always thinking about. That guys that's always there for you and that you can always count on. I know this is probably really weird for you right now, and I understand if you don't want to be a couple but I had to ask you because it's just been taking over my mind recently and I had to know what you thought."

"You want to be me real boyfriend, Austin?"

He nods nervously, "I want you to be my real girlfriend"

"With real love?"

"With real flirting"

"With real romantic walks?"

"With real dates"

"With real cuddling?"

"With real kisses"

With those words, Austin leaned in to kiss Ally. She leaned her head towards his head and their lips met. An indescribable, wonderful feeling washed over them. Ally brought her arms around Austin's neck and he wrapped his arms across her back. He gently ran his hand along her spine, which gave her beautiful sensation. Austin enjoyed the feeling of Ally's fingers dancing through the hairs on the nape of his neck. Ally felt whole; that hallow, empty feeling she had felt before, was gone. She realized what had been missing at that time, was Austin. He made her whole. As she made him feel complete. It was like they were on the same page the whole time, falling in love with each other and what not.

Austin broke away from their kiss for a moment, "Of course, though, it's been real all this time, hasn't it?" he says.

Ally smiles, "Yes," she says and continues to kiss him.


	13. Trez

**Tee hee, okay, I lied I have one last short chapter for you. I couldn't resist writing one with a Trez moment. So for those of you who enjoy Trez, here you go, hope you like it :)**

Little did Austin and Ally know, they were being watched. Trish and Dez were seated at a near by picnic bench hidden in the darkness.

"Yes! they're finally together!" Trish proclaimed in a loud whisper.

"Yeah, thanks to my plan," said Dez.

"yeah, yeah, full credit to you," said Trish brushing him off. She paused then said, "you know you've been full of surprises lately, Dez. Knowing how my plan for Austin and Ally to act as a fake couple wasn't a story for the paparazzi but to get them together, and then you come up with this great plan to force them to work together. What gives?"

Dez just shrugs, "I surprise myself all the time," he says,"It's fun."

Trish just shakes her head, then they continue to watch Austin and Ally be the cute couple that they are.

"Hey Trish," said Dez.

"Yeah?" Trish replies.

"Would you ever want to go out on a date with me sometime?" he asks her.

"You? and me? on a date?" Trish lets out a light laugh, "ha ha good one Dez." She gets up to leave. But when she looks back at the picnic bench, she sees that Dez remains there, watching Ally and Austin look happy together. Trish walks back to him and holds out her hand to him and says, "come on you, big dummy, let's give those two some privacy."

Dez smiles and takes Trish's hand. They run off together into the night.

**For those who have been wondering if I'm going to write more Austin and Ally stories, I'm not sure yet. Depends if I get more ideas. For now I'm taking a break. Thanks for showing your interest :)**


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